There are many types of topical antiperspirant products that are commercially available or otherwise known in the antiperspirant art. Most of these products are formulated as sprays, roll-on liquids, creams, or solid sticks, and comprise an astringent material, e.g. zirconium or aluminum salt, incorporated into a suitable topical carrier. These products are designed to provide effective perspiration and odor control while also being cosmetically acceptable during and after application onto the auxillary area or onto other areas of the skin. Aerosol sprays and solid sticks have been especially popular with consumers.
Although historically less preferred by consumers, antiperspirant creams remain an effective alternative to antiperspirant sprays and solid sticks. These creams can be applied by convention means, or packaged into topical dispensers to make topical application more efficient and less messy. Perspiration and odor control provided by these products can be excellent. Many of these creams, however, are cosmetically unacceptable to a large number of antiperspirant users. Application of these creams can be messy, difficult to spread and wash off, and even when a cream applicator is employed, the applied areas often feel wet or sticky for several minutes after application. Many consumers have therefore preferred antiperspirant sticks for ease of administration and drier skin feel immediately after application, although the antiperspirant sticks typically leave an undesirably high residue on the skin.
One method for making more cosmetically acceptable antiperspirant creams involves dispersion of particulate antiperspirant actives in a mixture of volatile and nonvolatile solvents and silicones. These antiperspirant creams contain conventional thickening agents (e.g., bentonite clays, hectorite clays, colloidal or fumed silicas) to help maintain dispersion of the particulate antiperspirant actives over an extended period of time. The volatile silicone component provides a drier skin fell upon application to the skin, and when combined with the nonvolatile solvent provides an effective vehicle within which particulate antiperspirant actives are delivered to and deposited on the skin. However, the conventional thickening agents used in these systems contribute a grainy texture to the product, and furthermore cannot maintain stable particulate dispersions over extended periods of time when higher volatile silicone concentrations are used. Higher volatile silicone concentrations would be desirable to further reduce stickiness, improve dry-down times after application onto skin, improve ease of spreading, and improve wash-off characteristics.
It has now been found that the antiperspirant cream compositions of the present invention, which comprise a volatile silicone solvent, particulate antiperspirant activities, and select fatty alcohol gellants, provides a novel antiperspirant cream composition which delivers effective antiperspirant and odor control, and improved cosmetics (reduced stickiness, reduced dry-down times, improved ease of spreading, improved wash-off, reduced grittiness) during and after application onto skin. The fatty alcohol gellant material described herein, when combined with volatile silicone solvents, provides a stable structure containing a dispersion of particulate antiperspirant actives, even when higher concentrations of volatile silicones are used. These antiperspirant creams do not require the use of particulate thickening agents to establish product stability, e.g. to maintain over an extend period of time a dispersion of the particulate antiperspirant actives.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel antiperspirant cream composition, and further to provide such a composition that does not necessarily require the use of particulate thickening agents, and further to provide such a composition that remains stable over extended periods even when comprised of higher concentrations of volatile silicone materials, and further to provide such a composition which provides effective antiperspirant and deodorant performance in a cosmetically acceptable cream composition.